Confession Changes

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I’ve seen the occasional confessional with drapes, but only long enough to conceal the upper body of both priest and penitent. And those have a fixed screen option only.

Most churches in my diocese and neighboring dioceses have reconciliation rooms with both options available to the penitent. And they have windows.
 
The glass door thing started in 2002, when the earlier round of abuse accusations and cover ups came to light. They became so ubiquitous in so many dioceses, I’m surprised to hear that they are still unfamiliar to anyone in the US.
 
We just recently had many abuse allegations come to light here. This may be why we are behind the times.

At the end of mass this weekend though, the bishop had all preists read a letter which said no case of child sexual abuse had been substantiated in our diocese for the past 30 years. Which made me wonder if there have been no cases of substantiated abuse for 30 years… why now? Probably just an overabundance of caution.
 
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Not a good idea at all. I can see this being a turn off for people wanting to go to confession.
 
Thomasbradley312 said:
There should always be a screen. I would contact my bishop if I was you and if he doesn’t act, the CDF or something.
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If the CDF wants to pay for a confession to be constructed in my parish I’d welcome it (we’d probably need to do some significant renovations to accommodate it). Until then, it’s a case of make do and mend. Don’t get me wrong - I’m a huge fan of confessionals and screens, but ideals are one thing realities are another. To me though, the article from Crisis magaine sounded like a very hamfisted attempt at capitalising on clergy abuse as a means to doing away with reconciliation rooms - something the author is clearly not a fan of. There are more than a few people who prefer face to face confession (and other who also can’t kneel). Confessionals also aren’t ideal (or even appropriate really) for kids confessions.

When it comes to installing windows though, I agree that this compromises the privacy of the pentitient - somebody who is struggling emotionally certainly wouldn’t be helped by the thought of others watching them.
 
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Kima said:
Why not have a confessional completely separating the penitent from the priest instead?
We have that in my parish, and it would be very hard for the penitent or the priest to reach the other without walking out of the confessional. At the same time, we have privacy and no one sees who is inside.
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This is the kind of confessionals we had in my former parish. No windows, complete privacy, and well lit, but nobody can see you, including the priest. It’s basically three separate rooms, like the old style confessionals, with a grille covered by curtains, with a slide for the priest to open and close.
 
Sounds like ours, except the screen is actually vertical slats placed on an angle. The priest is not facing the screen and I’m sure would not attempt to look through the angled slats.
 
The priest never faces the screen. He always sits sideways to the screen. One reason for this is so that he does not look you “in the face” as the screens are sometimes not that opaque. A second reason for this is to put the priest’s ear in line with your mouth so he can best hear you through the screen when you speak softly.
 
I’m frankly surprised that there is no legal requirement yet to record all that happens in the Confessional so that it can be subpoenaed if there is ever an accusation.

The zealousness to prevent abuse is astonishing. But I guess I can understand why someone who has been betrayed by a trusted person/organization is determined to prevent it from ever happening again and also determined that proof be available to convict a perpetrator.

A sad world. But sadder when a victim had no recourse.
 
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Peeps said:
I’m frankly surprised that there is no legal requirement yet to record all that happens in the Confessional so that it can be subpoenaed if there is ever an accusation.
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I’m not. The judicial system in USA is loathe to mess with the privilege exceptions, and “recording all that happens” in a confessional would also raise serious questions in view of all the Warren Court era restrictions on wiretapping and the like.

Furthermore, it’s not just Catholics who object to using confessions as evidence. The exception applies to non-Catholic clergy as well, and when this issue comes up in the courts, a whole barrage of religions generally file briefs supporting the Catholics.

Thank God we live in the USA with such protections; there are legal reasons why they are very important. I’m speaking as a lawyer here and not solely as a Catholic.
 
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Recording or transcribing anything that happens in a confessional or at Confession is one of the big crimes of canon law, and anybody Catholic involved with it would be subject to all sorts of penalties. Priests would lose their faculties forever, laypeople would be excommunicated along with other less than fun stuff.

Plus I think it would take the Pope to absolve you from the mortal sin part.

Seriously, you could murder someone and not do more damage to your parish and the whole Church. I mean, that is a hit on everybody’s souls and consciences.

One of the St. JPII movies talks about how the Polish KGB did bug the confessionals, and how this wore on the ex-Catholic who did it, until he finally repented and came back to the Church.

People fought hard to institute secret Confession and stick to it, and it is probably the number one or number two cause of priestly martyrdom down the ages. I wish people were taught more about this stuff.

(You can talk generally about what happened at Confession if you are a layperson. A priest is bound by the Seal, and cannot discuss any individual case by name. They can only speak very generally about Confessions in general, even for good reasons, and are forbidden to drop hints or to act outside Confession on things heard at Confession. And yes, there is a good Hitchcock movie about a priest trying to stop a criminal solely based on outside the confessional information, while under accusation himself.)
 
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Kima said:
What!? Like see-through glass our that type that you see that just someone is in there?
I would hate if this happened at my parish! It´s embarrassing enough to pass by people having the priest follow me to the confessional, if not they were to see me inside as well! What if I get emotional in Confession? Where´s my privacy and the decency of not forcing people to share that with those outside of the confessional!?
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People don’t look. It’s like how in some setups you could almost hear whats being said if you tried but of course we all instead actively try not to. People don’t watch through the window except when they see considerable movement which likely means it is their turn.
 
I think this is a good thing : protects Father. If it makes people feel uncomfortable it’s another reason to avoid sin. If you feel awkward getting emotional you can either offer that up or remember that the Lord may use it to inspire others who are waiting to go in. It’s a humbling thing anyway so worrying about being seen is splitting hairs imho
 
Peeps said:
I’m frankly surprised that there is no legal requirement yet to record all that happens in the Confessional so that it can be subpoenaed if there is ever an accusation.
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If recording were the case, I wouldn´t go to Confession in church. Then I´d have to confess to Father privately at another place instead. Not because I´ve done something judicially wrong, but because I wouldn´t want anyone but Father to know my sins. I even have a hard time making myself tell Father, so you can imagine.
 
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halogirl said:
If you feel awkward getting emotional you can either offer that up or remember that the Lord may use it to inspire others who are waiting to go in. It’s a humbling thing anyway so worrying about being seen is splitting hairs imho
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I´ve only had one Confession where I´ve cried and poured out my heart before God. It was embarrassing enough to do this in the presence of Father, if not I were to do so in a way where other people could see me as well. I hope that the wish for privacy when someone is sharing their deepest secrets with another human being are to be respected. It´s not like any other thing. It´s not like people see that I´m just speaking with a priest, I´m confessing. And I´d like that to be treated with secrecy.
 
ZemD said:
Another thread about confession made me curious if anyone else is experiencing this in thier diocese or parish.

Starting a few months ago, all the confessionals in my area started installing windows, so whether you go behind the screen, or face to face anyone standing outside the confessional can see both the penitent and the priest during the confession.

If there is no window on the room used for confession, confessions don’t happen there anymore, and instead the priest sits in the first pew in the front of church and you can sit next to him for face to face, or in the row behind him for behind the screen.

I think this must be to protect the priests.
I’m wondering if this is happening in any other dioceses.
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Ive been to a parish which has had a window to the confessional for a long time. It’s partially curtained off and you can see when someone is in there.
 
There are lots of other options tho. You can sit next to the priest in a quiet area of the church where your backs are facing the others. Your fellow penitents I would imagine are not going to be peering at you anyway. Also as long as you can’t be heard by the other penitents that’s all that matters. We have glass soundproof booths at our cathedral - looks like a holy recording studio 😆 I like it
 
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